


Stray Kids Stories - Requests Open!

by Josie_P



Series: Fanfic Requests [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst, Crack, Fluff, Multi, requests open
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:21:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25926550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josie_P/pseuds/Josie_P
Summary: Hey ~I've decided to start a little book where you stay's can ask me to make little stories for you about Stray Kids! Just comment an idea for a chapter, and I can make it! It can be any length, about pretty much anything, so please comment your requests in the first chapter!
Relationships: Stray Kids Ensemble/Everyone
Series: Fanfic Requests [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932691
Comments: 45
Kudos: 19





	1. INTRODUCTION

Hello! 

This is the first installment of this book, where you guys can comment your requests! Once you comment, I'll reply to you if your request has been accepted! 

The basic idea for a comment format would be something like, "I want a fic where Jeongin gets sick and all the members take care of him" or "I want a fic where Seungmin and Hyunjin confess their feelings for eachother", and everything in between!

Also, if you could give me a basic word-count range along with your request, that would be great! For example, "I want .... kind of fic, and for it to be somewhere between 10K-20K words,"

(Please note that you can request literally anything, but I won't write any sex scenes, so keep that in mind)

I shall be awaiting your requests :)


	2. Morning Routine - Chanlix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one requested this, but I wanted to make a cute little oneshot, so here it is!

Every morning, when the sun rises and basks the rest of the city with its warm glow, when the birds quietly sing, and it’s so early you can still hear the crickets muttering their low chirps, when only a handful people are roaming the usually crowded streets, Changbin likes to wake up. He likes the slow, leisurely, feeling he gets when he opens his eyes, in the quiet, still atmosphere of the Stray Kids dorms. 

His eyes open, and he’s met with the bottom of Felix’s bed. And the second he sees it, and he gets a small peek of Felix’s light brown hair, and a small spike of excitement rises in his stomach. So he gets out of bed, slipping on a black sweater and goes over next to the window in their room. He sits on the chair near and stares out the windows, a plethora of words flowing through his head like water. The water flows through his mind and makes itself a long paragraph of raps. 

The raps he can say in different tones, with different rhythms and beats. The freeing feeling he gets when he’s able to speak his feelings with passion, he can say them fast, low, high, or slow, and it still gives him that same catharsis. He could never get tired of it. 

But then one day with a start, he realizes that when he looks at a certain face, it’s a catharsis in itself. When he looks at the face of Felix, he can feel all the tension and pain leave him, no longer pent-up in his soul. 

Which is why whenever he can, he loves to sit next to him. He loves leaning his head on his shoulder, listening to his heartbeat, and even though he isn’t the most clingy or affectionate person, after sitting next to the windowside, he’ll wait for Felix to come down from the bed and sit next to him. 

Then they’ll both sit next to the windowside with each other, in an amiable silence that’s freeing, yet electrifying, and Changbin will mutter all the words flowing through his head of unsaid raps and rhythms, and Felix will laugh at what he calls Changbin’s ‘morning demonic chanting’. 

It’s what makes Changbin smile, and laugh with him, and the room is filled with cheer and happiness, and Changbin feels the love in his heart grow. He thinks to himself every morning that he may not be the richest person, or the most successful, but every morning is a thing of beauty, and he cherishes it. 

He cherishes the mornings, and the nights, the evenings, every moment he can spend with Felix, he loves.

He loves it with all his heart.


	3. Chan's Sick Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This fic was requested by @skzkids09 (You can comment and tell me what you thought about the chapter!)
> 
> Chan gets sick and his members take care of him :)

Chan opened his eyes knowing it would be a bad day. He woke up to the feeling of an awful headache, seemingly directly behind his eyes, and the feeling of not being able to breathe because of how stuffy his nose felt. He slowly rose from the bed, rubbing his watery eyes and sniffing.

He got up from the bed, swaying slightly and heading to the bathroom, grabbing a tissue and blowing, then trashing the used tissue. Chan coughed. It was a dry cough, the kind that made his throat feel parched and rough. He coughed again and headed to the living room, grabbing a water-bottle from the counter and taking a few sips.

He breathed deeply and coughed again, trying to swallow to get moisture into his throat. He looked at the clock and realized it was around 7. The band would wake up in around half an hour, and then go to dance practice at 8, and Chan had to get ready. He wasn’t sure how he could dance for a whole 4 hours when he could barely breathe, but he had to manage somehow.

He yawned, wincing as his throat hurt and coughing. It turned into a coughing fit until he was doubled over, not able to stop.

“Channie hyung?” A voice came from behind him.

Chan turned around, trying to see the source of it and saw, “Changbin?” He coughed again.

Changbin’s eyes widened in surprise. “Chan? What is it?”

Chan shook his head. “It’s nothing, nothing, I just… have a slight cough.”

Changbin walked over to him and placed a hand to Chan’s forehead, tsking at the high temperature. “You have a fever, hyung.”

Chan scoffed. “It’s not that bad, I can still go to practi—” He sneezed.

Changbin rolled his eyes. “Nope. You’ve overworked yourself into sickness, and it’s not going to happen again.” He took a blanket from a nearby chair and laid it on Chan, helping him get to a laid back position on the couch. “Try to sleep, okay?” He said gently, brushing Chan’s hair out of his eyes. Chan wanted to argue, and insist that he could go to dance practice, but the words escaped him, and his tiredness led him to the comforting arms of sleep.

+

Chan woke up to the scent of cinnamon candles and soup. He also woke up to the sound of a blood-curdling shriek and the a loud bang. He also woke up to the feeling of something moist on his forehead. And it was this exact combination of sensory feeling that aroused him to consciousness.

“HE’S AWAKE!” A loud cry came the second he opened his eyes. He shot straight up from his laid back position, sitting straight up and taking in the odd scene playing out in front of him.

Changbin was holding a pot over the stove, which was half-full with soup with an angry expression on his face. Minho was standing next to him, looking sheepish and ashamed, and Jeongin was glaring at the two of them. “You woke him up!”

Felix, Han, and Hyunjin had been… he had no idea what they had been doing, as they were piled up on top of eachother at the center of the room.

“What happened?” He asked hoarsely.

Minho started to explain. “Well, ha, I’ve been working on my flexibility recently, and so I decided to do a cartwheel, and I bumped into Felix, Han and Hyunjin, and they all fell down and then I collapsed into Changbin and he spilled his soup,”

“You decided to do a cartwheel? In the middle of the living room? At 7:30 in the morning?”

Minho frowned. “Well…. I don’t know, my legs felt flexible...err.. Looking back I realize it was a bad idea… I’m sorry hyung.” He bowed slightly.

“Aigoo, it’s fine, just don’t do it again.” He laughed slightly, “This reminds me of the time you did a somersault and crashed into the kitchen counter.”

Minho giggled. “Sorry, I crash into things a lot.”

Changbin handed Chan a bowl and a spoon. “Sorry, it’s not as much soup as I expected because someone spilled the soup, but I think this is still pretty good.”

Chan sipped it and smiled. “It’s delicious!”

Changbin beamed. “I have all sorts of different foods and tricks to heal a sore throat!”

“You do?” Chan asked, surprised. “You don’t seem like the type to cook?”

“Oh… my mom would always make me certain kinds of food when I lost my voice rapping too hard.”

Chan snorted. “I can picture you as a short little boy rapping your heart out while brushing your teeth.” He teased.

Changbin blushed. “Anyway, finish your soup.”

Minho sat next to him and started massaging his shoulders. “We decided to skip dance practice.” 

Chan gasped, “Skip it? Why would we skip it?”

“You’re sick. You can’t dance when you’re sick.” Minho said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I’m not that sick.” Chan insisted stubbornly.

Jeongin rolled his eyes. “It’s fine, hyung, a day of skipping dance practice won’t hurt you. You’re a good dancer! We can have a nice, relaxing day off. How does that sound?”

Chan nodded. “Okay, well, since we’re staying home, I can work on producing a new song—”

“NO!” The members of the band yelled in unison.

“You. Are. Going. To. Rest.” Felix demanded, his voice getting deeper with every word he spoke. Hyunjin and Han nodded in agreement. “Don’t you dare work today!”

“...”

The rest of the band glared at him.

“Fine, fine, fine, I won’t work.”

“And you better not say you’re going to the bathroom and then sneak your computer in there!” Felix yelled.

“I’ve never done that before!” Chan exclaimed indignantly.

“Then how come sometimes when I tell you to go to sleep, 10 minutes later I hear random beats coming from the bathroom?”

“Uh…ahem.” Chan coughed. 

Hyunjin laughed. "I'll even let you borrow my favorite llama stuffed animal! It'll be a well needed day off for our favorite leader~" 

"Er... fine." Chan reluctantly agreed. "I guess I should take a break for today, and rest, but what will you do while I do that?" 

Felix shrugged. "Nothin' much." 

If only Chan had known what exactly 'nothin' much' had meant.

He had walked to his room and pretty much collapsed on the bed as soon as he got there, looking forward to some well needed-rest. And what seemed like a few later, he drifted back to consciousness, and his whole body felt relaxed and stretched out. I guess that's what a good nap does for you! Chan thought with a grin. I wonder what the others are doing...

He walked out of the room and glanced at the table and the first word that popped into his head was, 헐~   
(헐, pronounced 'heol' or 'hull' is a Korean slang word that expresses shock and surprise)

"What's this?" He asked, alarmed. 

Changbin peeked his head out from the kitchen, holding a spatula. "Well, I was thinking of making the sore throat remedies I was talking about earlier. But, I was browsing on the web and found some really good recipes I wanted to try! But one thing led to another and then..." He pointed to the large array of different food on the table.

From a vegetable omelet with tofu, to rice and kimchi, to dumplings, even ramyeon and hotteok, the amount of food was incredibly impressive. 

"But you know what the hardest part was? Keeping these imbeciles away from the food. They kept snatching it from the pan!" 

Felix and Han laughed loudly. "Sorry, it looked to good not to eat!" 

Changbin rolled his eyes, and gestured for Chan to sit down. "Eat a lot, okay? You need strength to overcome your sickness!" 

Hyunjin served him a little bit of everything on his plate, and Chan's eyes widened at the amount of food. "Wow, Bin, you really went all out on this!" 

"Of course I did, my favorite hyung was sick, what could I do?" 

"Your favorite hyung!?" Minho's cry came from the next room. And a few seconds later, Minho came out too. "I thought I was your favorite hyung!" Minho put a hand to his heart, pretending to be offended. 

Changbin scoffed. "You're too immature to be a hyung, I feel like I'm older than you most of the time!" 

Minho tutted at him. "It's called, 'knowing how to have fun'!" He grabbed a piece of rolled omelet from a bowl on the table. "Anyway, how did you enjoy my full-body massage I gave you during your nap, Channie?" 

Chan tilted his head. "Massage? When did you...?" Oh... that's why I didn't feel so tense when I woke up...

"Wait. Full body? Does that mean...?" 

Minho winked. "Yep." 

At Chan's change of expression, he laughed, "No, no, I'm just kidding, I only massaged your legs, arms, and shoulders." 

"Ah, okay." Chan fumbled with the chopsticks, trying to pick up a piece of kimchi but unable too, suddenly feeling to tired to lift his hand to his mouth. 

Jeongin, who was sitting nearby reading a book looked up and noticed. He walked over and grabbed the chopsticks from Chan's and and sat on the stool next to him. "Say 'ah'~" He prompted, waving the piece of kimchi with the chopsticks in front of Chan's mouth. 

"You don't need to feed me, Jeongin—" 

"Nope! You take care of us all the time, and now is the time we get to take care of you! And that includes feeding you too." He held the chopsticks insistently, smiling when Chan begrudgingly opened his mouth and ate the piece of kimchi. 

Jeongin continued feeding him, and Chan felt a bit embarassed at first, but he couldn't deny it felt nice to be taken care of. 

He noticed Han recording the exchange on his phone. 

"Oy! Why are you recording this?" He asked, with a mouth-full of a soy-sauce dipped dumpling. 

Han laughed. "You looked so cute! I couldn't resist!" 

Jeongin took a napkin and dabbed the bit of soy-sauce that dribbled down his chin and continued feeding him. Hyunjin continued to pile more food on Chan's plate. Changbin was now making some sort of fruit plate for desert. Minho was massaging his shoulders and combing his hair. Felix and Han had grabbed a blanket from the closet and draped it over Chan's cold legs. 

All the bandmates were taking care of him, and it was a nice alternative to working all the time and being stressed out. Hm... taking a break once in a while isn't a bad thing after all. He thought. 

After all the members had finished eating, they sat down on the couch and put a show on TV, all the members cuddled together, some on the main sofa and some on the floor, since the couch could only hold so many people. 

So Chan came to the conclusion, that though he naturally overworked himself a lot, and sometimes got sick because of it, he should rest every once in a while. 

But even if he forgets, and gets sick again, he'll still have 7 amazing people by his side, taking care of him until he's better. 

His band-mates, his friends, his brothers.


	4. SKZ In High School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This fic was requested by @skzkids09 (You can comment and tell me what you thought about the chapter!)
> 
> A Stray Kids High School AU where SKZ are a good group of high school students ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "———————" is a line break which indicates a scene transition that is happening somewhere else at the same time as the previous scene.

The class had started. The students were all silent, looking eagerly at the door, as if they were waiting for someone to arrive. Or rather, 8 people to arrive.

The teacher also eyed the empty row of seats in the back of the classroom and turned to the door, high-heeled feet tapping the floor in impatience. She checked her watch for the time, a small smile appearing on her face when the time read 8:59. “Don’t worry students, they’ll be here just on time,” She reassured the class.

Who was she talking about? Stray Kids.

The group of eight entered the classroom, and the students all smiled at them as they walked by. Bang Chan, Lee Minho, Seo Changbin, Hwang Hyunjin, Han Jisung, Lee Felix, Kim Seungmin, and Yang Jeongin. The most-liked and popular students of the 10th grade in SKZ High School.

Their rise to popularity was pretty well-known to the students at SKZ High School, and all students, regardless of age or grade had talked to one of the members of Stray Kids at least one. The girls and boys would remember the encounter either with dreamy eyes or wistful sighs, reminiscing about the kindness and sweetness of the high school group.

However, Stray Kids weren’t always friends, so this is the story of how they came to be the way they are now...

A few months earlier….

Yang Jeongin walked to his locker, number 892, and hurriedly put his back-pack inside. He had to wish his brother’s friend, Chan, a happy birthday.

He didn’t know Chan personally, but he had seen a picture of him, and his brother had told him to give Chan a card and a gift(a pair of wireless headphones) for his birthday, to him since he couldn’t come to school today because of a spelling bee he had to go to.

Chan’s locker was supposed to be somewhere around the end of the hallway, number 799, but he couldn’t seem to find—

“Ugh!” He tumbled to the floor, looking up to see someone holding out his hand to him. “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry I bumped into you, I should’ve watched where I was going, are you okay?” Jeongin took his hand and brushed himself off. “Yeah…” He looked at his face, immediately finding his facial features familiar.

“What? Am I so handsome you need to stare at me for a few minutes?” Chan teased.

“Er..no, it’s not that, I mean, you are handsome, but, ah, uh…” He tripped over his words, trying to figure out what he wanted to say. “What I mean is… are you Chan?”

“Oh, you know me?”

“Yeah, I’m Jungwoo’s younger brother!”

“Oh!” Chan snapped his fingers, seeing the resemblance between his friend and his brother.

“I brought these for you!” He held out the card and gift and Chan beamed. “Thanks! So your name is…Jung…. Jungin?”

“Jeongin.” Jeongin corrected. “Anyway, I guess I’ll see you later.” He nodded and turned, preparing to leave for his next class, when Chan stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Wait, which class do you have next?”

“Science...?” Jeongin answered, looking confused. “But why do you need to kn—”

“I have the same one!” Chan exclaimed excitedly. “Let’s walk together!”

———————

Nearby, in the Math classroom, Kim Seungmin was talking to one of the girls in his class, rather loudly. “Why can’t you remember it? It’s simple. When a large star is young, it's hot, bright, and blue. The center of it makes energy like the sun, by changing hydrogen, the lightest element, into helium, the second-lightest element. The nuclear reaction creates energy that heats the star from inside out and makes it shine. The overflow of the energy pushes it out word, and the force of gravity pulls inward. As long as the star makes energy, it remains alive, but a massive star needs to make lots of energy to fight the gravity of its own mass, so the star shines brightly. Because of this, we can see stars hundreds of light-years across space, a huge difference nearly 6 trillion miles away from us.” Seungmin paraphrased the chapter from the Science book they were reading in class.

“Ji-hyun, I know you want to get good grades, which is why I’m taking the time to tutor you, but you need to put some effort into memorizing this stuff. Taking notes doesn’t do you any good if you can’t recall them without looking.” Seungmin explained, his tone revealing his frustration. He had been going over the materials with Ji-hyun for quite some time now, but for some reason, she just couldn’t get it.

“I know, I know, I’m trying to remember it all, but I get the sentences mixed up and then it just….ugh.”

Han Jisung watched the exchange between the two students with interest. He sat in the seat beside them, so he could hear their conversation.

“That way isn’t going to work for you.” He interrupted their conversation. Seungmin glared at him. “Excuse me?”

“Not everyone can just… look at a page and remember it all. I have a method that I think will work.” “And what method is that?” Seungmin asked, arms crossed, a bit ticked off that this guy would interrupt his tutoring session.

“Watch me, okay?” He turned to the girl, and began tapping his finger on the desk, creating a steady beat, and a little after he began speaking, “When a large star is young, it’s hot, bright, and blue, The center of it makes energy like the sun, by changing hydrogen the lightest element into helium.”

Seungmin watched as Han said the rest of the paragraph, or rather, rapped the rest of the paragraph, sticking to the beat and speeding up at the end.

“So we can see stars hundreds of light-years away from us, with a distance of about 6 trillion miles. Woo!” He energetically ended the rap and smiled as the girl grinned widely.

“Is it easier to remember when you say it like that?”

“Yep. It’s a lot better to just sing or rap it then try to memorize it by saying it without a rhythm.”

“I see…” She tried to copy Han in the rap, and got about half-way through before she stopped. “Wow, I memorized half of the paragraph in almost no time at all! Thanks so much, Han!” She smiled and moved back to her own desk, and Seungmin turned to Han.

“You memorized all that using a… rap?”

“Yep.”

—————————

In the gym, all students heaved a groan when the gym teacher, Mr.Kang shouted, “NOW FOR THE 5 KILOMETER RACE! STUDENTS, GET TO YOUR PLACES, WHEN I SAY GO, START RUNNING!”

The students started to run as soon as the gym teacher yelled ‘go’ most of them started breathing heavily as soon as the first 5 minutes passed, exhausted from the hard sprint, but two students stood out from the rest.

Lee Minho and Seo Changbin… ,The gym teacher noted, looking at the two students running. They both were extremely athletic, but Minho had more of a grace and elegance about him, the teacher assumed it was from dancing, while Changbin seemed a lot more muscular and built, running faster by a few milliseconds. In a last ditch effort, Minho tried to run a little faster, but it resulted in him tripping and Changbin reaching the finish line first.

“Okay! Minho and Changbin, you both are great! THE REST OF YOU,” He addressed the rest of the class, who was further away from him, closer to the starting line. “GET BETTER! YOUR GRADE WILL DROP 10 POINTS IF YOU CAN’T RUN 5 KILOMETERS IN HALF AN HOUR OR LESS. Class ends in 15 minutes, but I need to go ask Mrs.Oh something, please stay here until I come back!” He walked out of the room, leaving the students behind.

Changbin stretched his legs slightly, turning around and seeing Minho, who was on the floor beads of sweat running down his forehead, looking exhausted.

The other students gathered around the two of them, amazed expressions on their faces. “How did you do it, guys? How did you run so fast? And you pleased Mr.Kang too?"

Changbin smiled, “We still have some time left in gym class… shall I teach you?”

The two fastest students stood in front of the rest of the class, and Changbin began talking “To run fast, you need endurance, strength.”

“One of the most important things about running is positivity. Embrace positivity, and always have a good attitude! Even if it seems hard, keep going! Stamina is key!” Changbin continued. “Try not to waste all your energy in the beginning, go at a moderate pace, and at the end if you find you need to get to the end quickly, you can give it your all.”

“And help each other as well!” He made an example by pulling up Minho, looping Minho’s arm around his shoulders, who was on the floor, breathing heavily since he tripped. “Support each other, and encourage each other, and always believe that you can do it. Fighting! Do you guys want to try to run the five kilometers again?”

The students, now encouraged by Changbin’s pep talk, walked back to the starting line and started running, following all of Changbin’s tips.

“We can do it!” One student yelled out, and the others replied with loud shouts of, “Yes, we can!”

————————

Ji-hyun held the bouquet of roses in front of Hyunjin. “Hyunjin oppa, I really like you, so I wanted to give you these flowers. Will you… date me?”

Hyunjin chuckled awkwardly. “Uh… it’s.. I’m not looking for a relationship right now. So no thank-you,” He refused politely.

Ji-hyun frowned, her eyes moist, dropping the flowers on the floor and walking away. Hyunjin watched, feeling slightly guilty as she left, picking up the bouquet from the floor. “She left these…” He muttered under his breath.

“You got one too?” A voice came from behind him. “Who are you?” Hyunjin turned around and saw the source of the voice, a blonde-haired boy, “Felix. I was talking about the flowers. A guy gave me some earlier. And a girl gave me some the day before. It’s frustrating how they always just drop them on the floor after you refuse, isn’t it?” Felix laughed.

Hyunjin looked at him, surprised. “People do things like this to you too?”

“Yeah. It’s what happens when you’re this attractive.” Felix gave a hair-flip. “You know… the guy who I turned down a few minutes earlier, he’s bisexual, and I think Ji-hyun is totally his type when it comes to girls!”

“I see… oh!” Hyunjin caught on. “Do you wanna like… set them up together?”

Felix snapped his fingers. “Great idea!”

“But… how would we do that?”

“I have a plan! That guy, his name is Lucas, his locker number is 892, and I saw Ji-hyun walk down the hallway to get to her locker, and I think it was number 799!”

“Okay, but I don’t understand why that’ll help us get them together.”

“We can forge a note as if it’s Ji-hyun and put it into Lucas’s locker, and do the same thing vice versa, asking them to meet at the same lunch table, and then we can watch and see if they hit it off.”

“Are you sure that’ll work?” Hyunjin asked.

“Yep. I’m pretty good at doing different kinds of handwriting, as long as I’ve seen a sample of it, and I’ve seen both of their handwriting, so I think I should be able to do it! And you’re super tall, so you can just slip in the note in between the gap of the top of the locker.”

“You know… that idea really isn’t that bad.”

“Okay! Do you have a piece of paper?”

Hyunjin grabbed a piece of paper from his bag, handed it to Felix who tore it in half and started writing on each half, a note which read:

Hey ~  
I really like you, and was wondering if we could meet up sometime?

We can meet at lunch, at the lunch table at the very back of the cafeteria?

Come if you’re interested ;)

“Okay, you put it in locker 799, and I’ll put it in 892!” They both high-fived, feeling positive about their mission.

A few minutes later…

Jeongin opened his locker, intending to pull out his lunch box and then and then quickly leave, but before he could grab it a slip of paper slipped out. He read the paper, a puzzled look on his face. “Somebody likes me and wants to meet me for lunch?” He scratched his head, a bit confused.

Near locker 799, Chan was thinking the same thoughts as Jeongin. The handwriting on the note was unfamiliar, and he was a bit confused, but he decided to check it out.

Which is how Chan found himself at the table at the very back of the cafeteria, waiting for someone to arrive.

He waited until he saw a familiar face. “Jeongin!?” He exclaimed. “You were the one who wrote the note and slipped into my locker!?”

Jeongin raised an eyebrow, confused. “What? Didn’t you… write a note? That I got in my locker?”

“No…. I never wrote a note… and you didn’t write a note either… So how come we both got one?”

They both stood up from the table, looking puzzled, and then two other boys ran towards them, looking disheveled. “I’M SO SORRY!” one of them yelled. “My name is Felix, by the way, I’m so sorry that you guys landed in this… super awkward situation, Hyunjin and I,” He pointed to Hyunjin, who was beside him, “were going to set up two of our classmates and it ended up wrong… I must have gotten the wrong locker numbers… ugh, sorry again.” He bowed.

“Ey, ey, ey, no reason to say sorry!” Chan waved away Felix’s apologies. “Since we’re already here, go ahead and come sit down and eat lunch with us!”

“Oh.. okay…” Hyunjin answered, surprised that Chan wasn’t mad at them.

—————————

A few feet away from the gym room, Minho sighed. He was leaned against the wall, clutching his waist and head, groaning in pain. “I have a headache… and, ack my stomach hurts…”

“Oh, Minho?” Changbin looked at his classmate, leaned against the wall. The students had changed from their gym uniforms to their normal clothes, but Minho hadn’t yet. “You okay?”

“Huh…? Yeah, I think I hurt my ankle while running and it hurts to walk, and my stomach… ugh.” He clutched his torso and sighed. “I think I can manage though, I’m fine…”

Changbin looked at him and shook his head. “I don’t think you’re okay… when was the last time you drank water?”

“The last time… uh… I drank water… I don’t really remember.”

“Tch. Don’t you know? An athlete should drink water after and before they exercise! No wonder your head hurts! I don’t have a water-bottle on me right now, but let’s go to lunch together, they keep a few full cases of water-bottles behind the very last table at the back of the cafeteria, and we can grab a few. Let’s go to lunch together.” Changbin said, helping Minho lean against him. “Did you skip your meals?”

“I guess I forgot to eat…”

Changbin tsked again, slowly moving towards the cafeteria with Minho leaning on him. “The basics of athletics are taking care of yourself. You need to drink your water, and eat your meals.”

“Okay, I will.” Minho sighed again.

The two of them arrived in the cafeteria, and Changbin quickly bought two meals, one for him and one for Minho, and walked to the back of the cafeteria, where four boys were already there. That’s odd… no one usually sits at this table… He sat Minho down on a seat, and then sat down next to him, pushing the meal he bought right in front of him. “Eat well, okay?”

Minho smiled as Changbin also grabbed a water bottle from behind the table and handed it to him.

“Oh, so you guys,” Changbin addressed the others at the table. “Why are you guys here? I mean, no one really sits at this table, so I was wondering why….”

“It’s a funny story. But first, let me introduce myself and the others. I’m Chan, and this is Hyunjin, Felix, and Jeongin.” He pointed to each of them in turn. “And why are you two here then?”

“Ah, this is Minho,” He gestured to the seat next to him, where Minho was quietly sipping on some water. “He’s my gym classmate, and he got a headache and stomach ache so I bought him a meal and the water cases are all behind this table, so we just decided to sit here anyway.”

Minho nodded, picking up a piece of lettuce with his chopsticks.

—————————

Han started the rap, Seungmin interrupting and hyping up the chorus with lines, or cries of encouragement, “When factoring out an equation, one must find the greatest common factor!” “Greatest common factor!” Seungmin echoed. “And then rewrite the equation by multiplying with the greatest common factor!” “Woohoo!” “The reflexive property means that if a = b” “b = a!” Seungmin shouted. “The associative property of addition…” Seungmin shouted. “Is represented when the order of the parentheses in an equation changes!” “Yes, that’s right!”

The two went back and forth with their raps, looking through the notes, “ANDTHOSEARETHEPROPERTIESOFMATH!” They both rapped in unison as fast as they could, laughing. “That was so fun!” Seungmin laughed. And Han replied with a smile. “It really was! Ooh, I think we’re late for lunch, let’s go get something good!”

The two of them got their lunchboxes and headed to the cafeteria, frowning when they saw the cafeteria already packed with people. “Ooof, all the spots are taken… ooh I see two empty ones over there!” Han pointed to the table at the very back of the cafeteria. “Let’s go sit over there!” Seungmin exclaimed, heading over to the table and sitting down.

“Wow, for the first time in forever it seems like this table is totally full!” Felix grinned, pointing at how Han and Seungmin had filled up the last two empty seats. “What are your names?”

“Han,” Han answered, “and Seungmin” the other boy smiled. “So why are you all sitting at the back of the cafeteria?” Han asked.

The eight of them exchanged stories, interests, classes, and even contact information. It was as if it was fate, the way they all had met, and immediately clicked.

——

From then on, the group of eight would all help the students and each other. Changbin and Minho would always help students struggling in gym, teaching different techniques of running and exercise. Felix and Hyunjin would watch students, and give them a lil’ nudge' in their relationship when it seemed like they both wanted to move it forward but didn’t know how to.

Han and Seungmin would always help students learn their class material through raps and songs. And Jeongin and Chan became the ‘birthday boys.’ always buying gifts and getting cards, making sure everybody had a good day on their birthday,

Present Day…

And that’s why the students loved Stray Kids. They were kind, sweet, and helpful, and many could testify that they helped their class and gym grades a good deal.

Which is why, everyday, the group would always hear at least one person smile and wave at them, “Thank you, Stray Kids!”


	5. Felix's Dance Practice Dizziness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was requested by @JiminWreckedSugaBias (You can tell me what you thought about the chapter in the comments!)
> 
> Felix tries to hides that he feels dizzy during a dance practice and it results in him passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, if this was a bit short! I wasn't sure how to make it too much longer, but I tried my best~

"Alright, guys! We can take a quick 5 minute break now!" Minho's shout came loudly behind him. 

Felix winced at his loud voice, feeling his head throb slightly. 

The members of the band all plopped down where they were standing, grabbing water-bottles and gulping down the water. "Whew! That was exhausting!" Jisung exclaimed, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his hand.

Minho shook his head. "This is only the first half of the dance! The second half is going to be a lot more strenuous!"

More strenuous? Felix thought in his head. I didn't think that was possible... He moved to sit down, but his vision seemed to tilt slightly to the right, and all of a sudden he had stumbled down to the floor in a subtle sort of way. He took a deep breath in an attempt to restore his balance, but it still felt like something was off. Everything felt..... Tilted the wrong way, he placed his head in his hands, willing the feeling to go away, shaking his head, but it just made it worse. 

Five minutes had passed, and the off feeling still hadn't gone away. He tried to slowly get up, without stumbling, but he still felt like he was going sideways.

"Okay, let's continue! Now for the next part of the choreography, I'm going to need you to stand next to each other, straight, and then slowly lean left, and then right, and then we're going to bounce right into the dance we did for the choreo before, and then one more formation which I'll teach afterward." He began adjusting the members so they were right next to each other, and then continued. "Now, slowly lean to the left."

The members all did as instructed, leaning perfectly in sync, until it was Felix's turn. Leaning to the left when his vision already felt tilted didn't do him well. He tried to lean the correct way, but ended up tripping over his own feet and landing on the ground, he breathed in sharply. 

"Felix?" Minho asked, helping Felix up from the ground. "You okay?

"Yeah, yeah, I'm..." He frowned for a moment, clutching his head. "I'm fine, I just tripped."

"Ah, okay, try not to do that again." Minho answered absent-mindedly, distracted by Chan. "Hyung, your angle is a bit... off, can you try doing it a bit more... here." He walked over to Chan and adjusted his poition, making sure Chan leaned the correct way.

"Okay, let's pick this again from the top!" He clapped his hands twice and then fell into formation, frowning when Felix tripped again. "Felix." He addressed, hands on hips, sounding frustrated at the younger's repeated blunder. 

Felix shook his head, trying to clear his head from the dizziness and temporarily succeeding. only for it to come back with a vengeance, "S-Sorry, I tripped a little, can we try one more time?"

Minho nodded curtly, while Han spoke behind him, tone quiet and gentle. "Oy, Felix, are you okay?" Felix simply nodded, and did the move again, feeling a bit dizzy, but managing not to trip again.

A few minutes later, they had finally finished going through the basic choreography walk-through and were just about to do it with the music. 

Felix had to put all his concentration into it, not even bothering to mouth the lyrics but instead repeating over and over in his head, struggling to hear his own thoughts through the pounding in his head, lean left, then, straight, then right, go back, go front, to the side He knew he wasn't doing all the hand-motions correctly, but at least he knew the basics of where he had to go and when.

"Alright... Chan, Changbin, and Hyunjin, you guys are doing great! Han, Jeongin, and Felix, come over here for a sec." He gestured for them to come over while the others took a break. 

Felix rubbed his right temple. Everything is twisting, I can't see straight... He stopped walking and stood straight up, willing himself not to fall on the floor, breathing heavily. 

"Jeongin and Han, you two seem distracted, why is that? You keep looking towards..." His eyes drifted towards Felix. "Felix? Felix, are you okay? You kept stumbling?"

Chan and Changbin looked up from their water. "Stumbling?"

"You didn't notice?" Hyunjin asked. "He kept tripping over the pre-chorus... which is odd because he's normally a pretty good dancer..."

The members looked at eachother. "Felix... ?" Chan asked, trying to understand what had happened.

"Uh..." His world slowly tipped over, and then turned black. 

\--------------

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was the change of surroundings. "Where...? Where am I?" 

"You're at the dorms." Hyunjin answered. 

Felix couldn't help but notice the odd emotional undertone in his voice. "Why am I here?" 

"You passed out during dance practice." Chan interjected. "Were you feeling bad during practice today?" 

"Er... I was a bit dizzy, but--" 

"FELIX!" Changbin exclaimed loudly. 

Felix flinched at his angry tone. "Hyung...?" 

"You can't just... you can't... you need to..." He struggled to find words. "You need to tell us when you're feeling bad! Whether your tired, or dizzy, or just, not your best, you need to tell us. You can't hide it, or else things like this will happen, you'll just faint, and ..." He paused for a second, his eyes looking moist. "we won't even know what happened... I just watched as you fainted, did you know how scary that was?" He blinked a few times. 

Felix immediately felt guilty. "Changbin, I'm so sorry, I didn't want to interrupt dance practice."

Changbin wiped his eyes and sniffed. "You're more important than dance practice, Felix! You can't do this ever again! Okay? You can't worry us like that again!" 

Felix felt taken aback by the emotion in Changbin's voice. "I think I got a migraine and got a bit dizzy..." 

"It was probably stress-related." Chan observed, looking at Felix. 

"Guys, I'm sorry--" 

"Don't apologize!" Jeongin and Han both exclaimed in unison, hugging him tightly. The other members joined in, and Felix couldn't help but smile. 

A few minutes later, Hyunjin grabbed him some medicine and a glass of water, and Felix accepted it gratefully. "Thanks, guys, I feel a lot better now." 

Changbin spoke up, 

"We're always here for you Felix. No matter what. Don't ever forget that!"


	6. Maknae-Line Illness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was requested by @Liriis (You can tell me what you thought about this chapter in the comments!)
> 
> I went on a bit of hiatus for around a month (school's started and it's kind of busy) but I'm back and ready to roll XD 
> 
> Please enjoy this little oneshot of the maknae-line getting ill and the hyung-line taking care of them! :)

Minho opened his eyes, a smile on his face, ready to face the day. The morning was beautiful, the sky was streaked with golden, orange, and purple the shade it was in early morning, and he was bursting with energy.

Or at least, he was.

Now, he was standing outside the dorms bathroom, lips pursed in concern as he heard rather, intense retching in the bathroom. “Hello? Who’s in there?”

The retching paused for a second, and he heard a small voice, undeniably Felix’s, call “it’s me!” before coughing.

“Lixie, do you think you can open the door for me?” Minho asked, having to raise his voice slightly for Felix to hear him over the sound of his own coughing.

“Okay, hyung.”

The door slowly opened, and Minho went inside, frowning when he saw Felix throwing up in the toilet, his brown hair sticking to his forehead with sweat, a tired expression on his face.

Minho got behind him, rubbing his back comfortingly. “It’s okay, it’s okay… are you done now?”

“Yeah, I think so…” Felix responded hesitantly. “But my stomach still hurts.”

“Okay, I’ll get you something light to eat or drink for breakfast, for now, come over--” He walked to the living room, a poorly concealed gasp breathed out of his mouth when he saw Jeongin, Jisung, and Seungmin also looking incredibly ill, splayed out on the couch, blankets covering their bodies.

“They’re all sick?” Minho asked, tone laced in shock and concern.

Chan, Hyunjin, and Changbin nodded, “I think it’s some sort of stomach bug? Or flu of some sort?” Chan deduced, and Changbin nodded. “They all look pretty worn out and tired, too…” Hyunjin sighed, “What do we do?” He asked, overwhelmed.

“Don’t worry.” Chan reassured, “I’m sure it’ll go away eventually.”

Only a few seconds after he said it, Felix rushed to the bathroom, and the sound of coughing and throwing up followed, mixed with the sniffling of Seungmin and Jeongin, who had used up the last few tissues, and Jisung, who was frantically nursing a nosebleed.

“Here, here, here!” Hyunjin repeated, waving a tissue to Han, who took it and tilted his head back, and then coughed.

“Don’t tilt your head back!” Changbin shouted. “The blood will flow to the back of your throat, and you’ll have to spit it out, just pinch the bridge of your nose and look straight ahead!”

Jisung quickly complied, and Changbin sighed in relief when it looked as if he was under control, before hearing pitiful whimpers from the other end of the couch.

“Aaw, Jeonginnie, it’s okay, don’t cry,” Chan urged, to Jeongin, who had begun whimpering as his fever increased in temperature, “I know it feels lousy, but just try to take it for now, okay?” He gestured for Minho to get a towel drenched in cold water for him to dab Jeongin’s forehead with, which he did, before having to rush off in Felix’s direction when the retching finally stopped.

Soft muttering came from the bathroom, Minho trying to soothe Felix after his acidic ordeal, while Hyunjin was singing softly under his breath, trying to help Seungmin fall alseep.

“Err, Binnie, can you make something for them to eat? They’re probably hungry…. Soup, or something?” Chan asked from his spot on the couch, next to the maknae. 

“Sure.” Changbin nodded, before quickly heading to the kitchen, a few pots and pans clanging as he started to make chicken noodle soup.

“Hyunggg, what do I do, the blood isn’t stopping!” Jisung exclaimed, visibly distressed as his tissue became dark red.

Hyunjin started. “Okay, so nosebleeds are usually caused by dry air when the skin inside your skin breaks a little bit, so let’s just try to make the room a bit warmer--” 

Jeongin choked at the word ‘warmer’ and Chan flinched.

“Okay, maybe not this room warmer, but why don’t we go somewhere else and the blood will probably stop.” Hyunjin led Jisung to one of the warmest rooms in their dorm, and a few minutes later Changbin called from the kitchen, “The soup is ready!”

All of the hyungs led the rest of the band to the table, (including Jisung and Hyunjin, as -thankfully - Han’s nosebleed had stopped), glad that for the moment, the maknae line didn’t look too sick.

“Okay. Now, let’s just eat, a little by little, and hopefully, we’ll all feel better, right?” Changbin asked apprehensively, eyeing the pensive hyung’s around the table.

Seungmin took the first sip, thanking Changbin earnestly for the warm meal, (he loved soup) Jeongin followed, and then, (with a gentle nudge, courtesy of Chan) Felix took a bite, smiling when he didn’t feel the tell-tale stomach churning and the intense need to vomit up his food right after eating it, Jisung slurped his soup loudly, and those at the table collectively laughed at his enthusiasm, and the maknae line all enjoyed their meal, sickness temporarily forgotten.

Around 7 hours later, the band, all of them exhausted from their virus-filled morning, had decided to lay down for a nap on their bed, but Seungmin just couldn’t go to bed. His head and stomach ached alternatively, one second he was too hot, the next, too cold. He wanted it to be louder, but the current, static-filled silence already felt deafeningly loud, he just wanted to rest, but he didn’t feel tired enough to do so.

Two rooms beside Seungmin’s - Felix and Jeongin’s thoughts almost exactly aligned with his.

After a great deal of contemplation, Seungmin finally found the source of his unrest. The dorm was far too quiet. Usually, whether it was the sound of energetic rapping, a soft ballad or passionate belting of a song, the muffled scratch sound of sock-covered feet dancing on carpeted or tiled flooring, the Stray Kids dorms were always filled with noise, and it was that quality which made the familiar dorms feel like home.

And sometimes, when you’re sick, the feeling of home is the feeling you need most.

Following this rather extensive train of thought, Seungmin thought that there needed to be some sort of sense of noise and sign of brotherhood in the dorms, which is why, with a slight smile, Seungmin got up from his bed, fever having finally receded for the most part, and headed to the living room.

There were random blankets and pillows hanging from the sofa haphazardly, and Seungmin tutted, disliking the messy scene.

He grabbed some tall chairs and stools, placing them next to each other and across, creating a long rectangle, and neatly draped the blankets over them, a thick comforter laying on top of the structure.

Right as he started to grab some stuffed animals from a large wickered basket nearby, Jeongin and Felix rushed out of their rooms, eyes wide awake, not foggy with tiredness. 

“You couldn’t sleep either?” Seungmin asked, and Jeongin nodded. “It was too quiet.”

“What’re you doing?” Felix asked, pointing to the blanket-covered chairs.

Seungmin giggled childishly. “It’s a pillow fort! I thought we could all sleep together here with the hyungs.”

“THAT SOUNDS LIKE SO MUCH FUN!” Felix shouted in a sudden burst of energy, then regretted it as his stomach scrunched and felt sore.

“Shh, shh, shh, it’s a surprise the hyungs are probably kind of tired since it’s late, but I think they’ll like to sleep with us here!”

Seungmin nodded, while Jeongin just began to pile stuffed animals at the entrance of their little pillow fort cave structure. Jisung, who had been awakened by Felix’s loud previous exclamation, gasped and clapped his hands excitedly once he saw the now completed pillow fort. “It looks so cool!” He grinned, and went to the dorms of each of the hyung line in turn, and so Chan, Changbin, Hyunjin, and Minho slowly plodded out of their rooms, yawning and rubbing their eyes sleepily. 

Only a few moments later, quiet snores, sniffles, and mutters filled the little fort the maknae-line had built, blanketed and pillowed in their own little warm bubble. Not quite as loud as they were used to, but loud enough to feel familiar.

And familiar enough to feel like home.


	7. Hyunjin's Injury

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was requested by @skzkids09 (You can tell me what you thought about this chapter in the comments!)
> 
> It was a solid 3K words shorter than I wanted it to be, but I've been writing it for a bit of a long time now, so I just wanted to get this out, please enjoy :)

The early gray rays of sunlight filtered through the closed window of the JYP Dance Practice room, the hour of clocks around South Korea ticked to 4AM, and a broken sigh echoed through the acoustics of the room. 

Hyunjin breathed heavily, his dark brown hair falling into his eyes, dampened with perspiration. 

The music he was supposed to be dancing to blared in the background as Hyunjin inhaled deeply, he had screwed up the move and landed flat on his back, chest heaving in tiredness, and his eyes fluttered, wanting to rest. But Hyunjin wouldn’t let himself rest. Not yet. Not when he hadn’t even made a dent of progress in the dance. Everything just felt like too much. And he wasn’t enough to do it all.   
He couldn’t move his arms high enough, his legs fast enough, his feet gracefully enough, every movement he attempted, every gesture and try led to another failure, and the dancer couldn’t feel more discouraged.   
His left leg ached, his ankle felt bruised and battered, and his calf felt numb. 

He had been working for three hours now, he should have the dance perfected, without a flaw or mistake, his infallibility in the art of dance should have been proven by this choreography, but no, it wasn’t. He felt every ounce of self-confidence slowly drift away as he heard the music, long-forgotten but still playing, the fast and energetic beat should have lifted him up! And it would have, normally, but now, it dragged him down, slowly, and painstakingly left him on the floor, struggling to breathe as his brain finally felt all the pain, the tenseness in his shoulders, legs, and feet, the achiness rendering him immobile as he laid there on the wooden-paneling of the dance floor.   
His eyes shut. 

Six hours later, at 10AM, Hyunjin woke up with a start, muscles seizing in terror for a second before realizing his surroundings. I’m in the dance practice room….   
He had fallen asleep in the dance room. Just as he woke up and dragged himself to the water fountains to take a sip of water, the band opened the practice rooms in a hustle and bustle of energy and noise. “Hyunjin, you’re here already! Must’ve come in a few minutes earlier than us, hm?” Chan acknowledged him absentmindedly, and Hyunjin opened his mouth to correct him before stopping. “Yeah, I came in a bit earlier than you guys.” I never left..

The music, heart wrenchingly familiar from a few hours earlier, began to blast, and Hyunjin felt his ankles and knees ache as he moved to get in his place in the choreographed formation for the beginning of the song.   
From the beginning of the song, he could hear Minho’s calls from the front of the group, “One, two, three, go!” He signalled the start and the members all spun in place, tapping their toes and twisting their bodies and the movements all looked doable, and yet when he went to do them, his muscles felt too tense, but not strong enough, and it just hurt, until, with a loud thud his body met the floor. 

In the brief millisecond when the sound reached the ears of all the band members simultaneously, and almost identical expressions of panic and fear shone on their faces as their eyes locked on the body of their fallen bandmate, who’s facial expression showed nothing but pain. “Ow… my leg…” 

“Hyung!” Seungmin and Jeongin called in distress when Hyunjin didn’t immediately get up. “Ugh… it hurts…”   
“Okay, okay, don’t panic, let me just… evaluate the wound.” Changbin spoke up, crouching next to Hyunjin, who was whimpering, clutching his ankle. “Shh, can you let go for me?” Changbin asked, tone quiet, and voice soothing. “Let me see…” 

Hyunjin hissed in pain as Changbin pried his fingers off, the lack of pressure making his muscles hurt all the more, and he winced as he saw the purple bruising on his leg. “Jinnie… why didn’t you tell us your leg was hurting?”   
“Is it bad, hyung?”  
“I don’t think it’s that bad… it looks like some bruising and swelling, it’s probably a bit sprained, I think you must have twisted it wrong while dancing. But… how could you have twisted this badly if you only started dancing just now, with the rest of us?” 

“Oh…” Hyunjin hesitated, before admitting, “I didn’t come here just now, I… I never left the practice room since last night.”   
“What?!” Chan exclaimed. “Hyunjin. How… what… Why would you do that?” 

“I just felt like… I can usually pick up the dances, but yesterday, I just felt so tired, and my legs wouldn’t move correctly, my leg hurt, and I… couldn’t give up.”  
“You aren’t ‘giving up’, Jinnie, you’re just resting!” Minho answered Hyunjin, side-hugging him reassuringly. “It’s okay when you don’t get it the first time, sometimes you just need to rest and try again later, okay?”   
Hyunjin nodded. 

Changbin had gotten up to grab a towel and wet it in warm water to wrap it around Hyunjin’s leg, and Hyunjin sighed as he felt the pain and tenseness of his muscles fade away.   
“Hyung, are you okay now?” Felix asked pensively, watching as a frown marred Hyunjin’s features. 

“I am, it’s just… I’m kind of sad that… I don’t know, I thought I was a good dancer, but I’m not, and now, I couldn’t even do this and I even got injured, I just feel so--” 

“No.” Minho interrupted, putting up a hand to stop him. “You’re wrong there. You are a good dancer. You’re an excellent one, Hyunjin. You’re hard-working, kind, and sweet, and work hard. You’re amazing, okay? I know how it feels like when you have off days and can’t do any choreography right, but that doesn’t change how good you are. You understand?”

“Yeah, hyung.” Hyunjin smiled. “I know that.” 

“Well, should we go back to the dorms then? I think we all know the dance well enough anyway, we can practice later with Hyunjin.” Jeongin asked. The rest of the band nodded, and Changbin and Minho helped Hyunjin up, supporting him on both sides as he lifted his hurt leg up, not wanting to put any weight on it to strain it further. 

They got into the van and drove back to the dorms, talking all the way there. Hyunjin smiled as Seungmin inched closer to him, providing with the skinship he knew always comforted him. Minho gently rubbed and massaged his legs, and Hyunjin thanked him, once they got back to the dorms, the whole band sat by the couch together, all the members gathering around Hyunjin, and Hyunjin couldn’t feel happier.


	8. Felix Is Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was requested by @Liriis (You can tell me what you thought about this chapter in the comments!)
> 
> The: ----------------- sign indicates a scene that is taking place at the same time as the previous scene, but in a different location/one that is taking place a few seconds earlier or later in comparison to it. 
> 
> Please enjoy ~

Felix is a bit lost. Okay, that’s an understatement. Felix has absolutely no idea in the whole wide universe where he is.

He and the band had gone to Seoul. Most of the members were instantly in their element. The bustling city went just after 7PM, the crisp air and loud, colourful chatter of the civilians on their way to their various destinations. 

Seungmin, Jeongin, Hyunjin, and Jisung were absolutely elated. Those members of the band adored the lively atmosphere.  
“Ooh, should we go to the cafe later?”  
“That would be epic! I kind of want to go to the malls though--”  
“Yeah! And we could also--”  
“Go to the Han River?”  
“That’s what I was thinking!” 

Practically talking over each other in their excitement, the four of them headed to a joint cafe-mall, (only after promising their hyungs to meet them at Han River in an hour, of course). Normally, Felix would tag along with them, but he couldn’t help but dislike how crowded the streets of Seoul were, it made him feel to closed in, and he didn’t want to go through more of that by going with the others of the group, so he half-heartedly went with the hyung line, who had decided to aimlessly walk around the streets. 

Somewhere along the line, Minho had gotten bored with just walking and decided to run-- no, full-on sprint along the crowded streets, yelling in a shrill, childish voice, “CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!” Chan rolled his eyes at the younger, before sprinting off after him, and Changbin, who looked too tired to be bothered, continued on his slow walk with Felix. That was, until Minho looped back when he decided that Chan was too slow and he wanted Changbin to chase him instead - and grabbed his beanie right off his head.  
With a shaking fist, Changbin loudly swore and chased after Minho, joining Chan, and Felix had no choice but to run along with them. 

Half an hour later, Minho had pretty much collapsed out of exhaustion in the middle of the road, and Chan, worried that a car would come and hit him, hurriedly dragged the dancer across the street and sat him down on the sidewalk, and Changbin grabbed his beanie from Minho, who just snorted, and giggled, laying his head in Chan’s lap. “Whoo, that was fun!”

“Speak for yourself,” Changbin hissed disdainfully. “It’s not fun to chase after you when you have my hat.”  
Felix interrupted before Minho had the opportunity to respond, asking Chan, “Hyung, can we go to the cafe? I’m kind of thirsty.”  
Chan half-heartedly tried to get up from his seat on the hard, grainy, cement sidewalk before sighing and dropping back down. “Ugh, I’m kind of tired from chasing Minho and dragging him away from the road.” He glanced at Minho, a pointed glare on his face. “Can you go by yourself?” 

“Oh, sure.” 

How Felix wishes he hadn’t responded that way to Chan’s question.

He was fine at first. 

He walked inside the cafe, asking the kind-looking lady at the front for 3 coffees, one for him and one for Changbin and Chan. (Minho didn’t need more caffeine or sugar.) The lady nodded. He was about to go outside to wait, but stopped abruptly at the sight of a man, who seemed quite young, maybe a year younger than him, struggling with a large black bag, which had a hole in it, from which trash was pouring out, while writing down an order from a customer at the table next to him.  
“Hey, do you need help with that?” Felix asked. 

“Thank you so much,” He instantly responded.. He pointed outside, “There’s a garbage dump in the alleyway, can you throw it there? I mean, you don’t have to--”  
“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Felix interrupted, hitching the bag over his shoulder and heading outside. The alleyway was right next to the cafe, and so he dropped the bag in, and was about to head back into the cafe, when he saw an old woman struggling to push a heavy cart, which was filled with groceries. 

“Oh, don’t do that, 아줌마(Ajhumma - an honorific for an elderly lady)! You’ll hurt your back, here, let me help you.” Felix gently placed his smooth, small hands on the cart handle, next to her larger, wrinkly ones, and pushed the cart down the street, talking to the lady all the way. “So, where are you headed?”  
“I’m going to meet my son, he lives near here. He can’t cook for his life and always eats ramen, so I’m bringing him some fresh food.” 

Felix chuckled, and continued pushing the cart. The old lady, who was very obviously fond of her grandson, continued to tell stories of him, and Felix listened patiently, responding at the appropriate times. About 25 minutes and a multiple rights and lefts later, they had arrived at her grandson’s house.  
“Hey, you wanna come in?” The woman asked, and Felix shook her head. “It’s okay, 아줌마, I wouldn’t want to be a bother, have a good time with your grandson though!”  
The woman grinned widely, and waved him goodbye.  
Felix smiled back at her. 

He’d been walking for around 5 minutes, before he heard footsteps. Someone was following him. His first reaction was to scream and hit the thing that was following him, but he decided to turn around first, and was glad he did. 

“Oh, hey!” He greeted. It was a little girl, who couldn’t have been more than 6, with a cute little endearing smile on her face. “Hii!”  
“Are you lost?” Felix asked. 

The little girl shook her head. “No, I’m just kind of… sad.” She pouted. “My mum won’t get me candy. She says it’s too… exsp-- exsps-- esp--” She stuttered.  
“Expensive?” Felix asked, feeling sympathetic. He remembered a time when his father’s income was so low, they could barely afford the basic necessities, much less candy and extra treats. He rooted around in his pocket, searching for his wallet, before pulling it out and grabbing 10,000 won.  
He looked around, spotting a vendor’s cart far away. “Stay here, I’m going to go get you something, okay?” He asked the little girl, who just nodded, bewildered. 

He ran to the vendor, who was selling all sorts of things in their cart. Felix pointed to a pink lollipop and handed her the money, and she gave it to him, not without a ‘aren’t-you-a-little-too-old-for-lollipops’? look which Felix sheepishly ignored. He ran back to the little girl, feeling out of breath, and handed her the pink confection, the shade of the sweet matching the pink dust that coated her cheeks as she squealed in delight, “THANK YOUUU!” ‘  
Felix laughed. “Your welcome. Byeee!” The girl threw him a finger-heart, which he reciprocated before heading back to the cafe. 

Except… he didn’t know how to get to the cafe from here. Which led him to his current dilemma. He was lost. He had walked for around 10 minutes now, and was currently in a place that really looked no different from any of the other places he’s been in, same apartment complexes, small houses, large corporate office buildings, and a few local restaurants, but no cafe, and no hyungs.  
It occured to Felix, suddenly, that Changbin, Minho, and Chan, were probably incredibly worried by now. After all, it took 5 minutes to order coffee, max, and he had been gone for a pretty long time. Of course, he had no way to know since he forgot to bring his watch, and his phone had died. Typical. 

I have to find them… where was the cafe? I remember it was down a road, next to the alleyway, of course, but I just need to find the alleyway, where is it, was it near a fountain? I think it was, I’m not sure though…

Back on the sidewalk Changbin looked at his watch, face distraught. “It’s been, like, an hour, guys!”  
Chan’s face mirrored Changbin’s, and he got up, “I know, I wonder where he is?” 

Minho had been texting Felix for the past few minutes, biting his lip and shaking his head when he didn’t respond. “What do you think happened to him?”  
“I have no idea…” Chan asked, and you could tell by his face that he was calculating all the possible scenarios, and none of them were good.  
“We have to search for him!” 

“Okay, let’s just… trace his steps.” 

They started in the cafe, and Chan asked the lady in front. “Hey, did you happen to see someone pass by here? He’s around 20 years old, as a young looking face, with blonde hair and a black shirt - do you know in which direction he went?” The lady contemplated for a second, before shaking her head. “Sorry, I don’t remember, today was a busy day, and all the customers have kind of blended together at this point.” 

“Oh…” Chan responded, dismayed, “Thank you for your help, though.” She nodded. They made to exit the cafe, when a man, who had been next to the lady, cleaning the countertop suddenly interjected. “I remember him!”  
Chan beamed. “You do?” 

“Yeah… he helped me throw out the trash, but I haven’t seen him since…”  
“The trash? I’m guessing he put it in the dumpster in the alleyway?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Let’s check there, then.” Changbin whispered to Chan, who nodded. “Wait!” The man cried. “Can I come with you? He did me a huge favor, and I would hate not to pay it back, I can help you look for him!” 

“Sure.” Minho agreed. “The more eyes we have, the better.”  
The foursome opened the wooden door to the cafe, the customer-bell ringing behind them, and headed to the dumpster. “He isn’t here.” Minho immediately concluded at the empty alleyway, sounding incredibly discouraged. 

“Should we look somewhere else?” The man asked. “I think that would be best.” Changbin confirmed, walking down the road. It was an area where quite a few vendors had set up their carts, though not many people were there, except a little girl and her mom. 

“A-yeong, where did you even get that lollipop? I told you not to take things from strangers!”  
“But he was a nice stranger, Eomma. He was super kind, and he wasn’t wearing mean people clothes, he had a black shirt with the words “Stray Kids” on it. What does Stray Kids mean, Eomma?” 

Minho, who had been in the hearing range of the two, gasped. Could she be talking about Felix?  
“Hey,” Minho approached the two, looking at the little girl. “Did you see someone, 20 years old, with blonde hair, a black shirt and jeans?”  
“Yeah, I did!” She exclaimed, black locks of hair bouncing on her shoulders. “He went that way!” She pointed to the left of the road, and Minho eagerly thanked her before waving Chan and Changbin over to find Felix. 

Walking, and walking, and walking, only for about half an hour, and yet it felt like a lifetime. “UGH!” Changbin groaned in frustration, the situation the fault for his out-of-character emotional outburst. “I can’t believe that we still haven’t found him!”  
“Calm down, Bin, I’m sure we’ll find him--” He was interrupted by the frantic ringing of a phone, Changbin’s. He answered the call, pressing the phone to his ear.  
“Hello?”  
“Hyung!” A voice, Seungmin’s, with the others in the background.  
“Why’d you call?”  
“We’re at the Han River! Like you said, remember? Where are you guys?”  
“Oh…” Changbin hesitated. “We’re near the big Mall Center, but you don’t have to--”  
“Okay, we’ll head right over!”  
**BEEP!**  
The call cut.  
\----------------------------------------  
Felix walked, noting the rubber ducky toy thrown across the road carelessly. It was probably a toy that some kid had lost, and served as a good landmark to make sure he wasn’t going in circles. But 30 seconds later, as he continued walking, he saw the same rubber ducky again, so either he was walking in circles, or…. There were just lots of rubber ducky toys in the streets of Seoul. 

“Hyungs?!” He called desperately, frowning when no one answered. 

“Oh!” An exclamation came from behind him. It was the ajhumma from earlier. “It’s getting late, you’re still out?”  
“Ha, I kind of got lost and separated from my hyungs, and my phone died…” 

“No worries!” She insisted, beckoning him to follow her. “You can come inside, I’m sure my grandson will let you borrow one of his chargers!”  
Felix nodded, eternally grateful for her kindness, followed her into the house, which reminded him of his own home, in the way that it was nothing extravagant, but homely, warm, and welcoming nonetheless. 

The elerly lady took Felix’s phone and smiled as it started to charge. “Okay, well, while we wait for that to charge, why don’t you have something to eat? I made some kimchi earlier, please, have some!

A good 20 minutes later, when Felix was feeling incredibly warm and full and his phone had begun to work again, he called Chan.  
“Channie hyung?”  
\-----------------------------------------  
Jeongin, Seungmin, Hyunjin, and Jisung had literally sprinted over to the Mall Center, in a race to reach the others first, and Jisung, ever the bundle of energy, was unarguably first place in the impromptu race. 

“Hey guys! Oh, where’s Felix?” 

Changbin bit his lip. “We don’t know… we think he’s lost.” 

“Lost?!” Hyunjin exclaimed, distressed. “Felix has really bad navigation skills… how will we find him? I’m guessing he isn’t answering his phone?” 

“Yeah, it must have broken, or died or something.” Minho answered. 

The band stood in silence for a few seconds, wondering what they could do, until there was a beeping sound. It was Chan’s phone. Chan gasped when he saw the caller ID, and quickly swiped right to answer it. “Felix!” 

“Hyung! I’m so sorry, I got kind of lost--” 

“Okay, let’s not talk about that right now, first, just tell me where you are.” 

“Uhmm…” There was a pause. “I’m in a really kind ajhumma’s house, she says we’re in the Yongsan-dong neighborhood.

“Yongsan-dong!” Seungmin exclaimed. “I know where that is!”  
\-------------------------------------------  
“FELIX!!!!” Seven voices joined into one collective cry of relief. Felix held his arms open, laughing joyously as his hyungs and dongsaengs hugged him tight. 

“I’m so glad we found you!” Chan practically shouted, his happiness feeling overwhelming, contradicting the choking panic he had felt before. 

“I hope you never get lost again…” Jisung wished sincerely, and Hyunjin nodded in genuine agreement. 

“I’ll try not to,” Felix laughed, and he felt all the worry he was feeling before melt away. 

Because finally, he knew where he was.


End file.
